A rack of Bike Share bikes with the Cyclistic logo
A rack of Bike Share bikes with the Cyclistic logo

Introduction

In 2016, Cyclistic launched a successful bike-share offering. Since then, the program has grown to a fleet of 5,824 bicycles that are geotracked and locked into a network of 692 stations across Chicago. The bikes can be unlocked from one station and returned to any other station in the system anytime.

Until now, Cyclistic’s marketing strategy relied on building general awareness and appealing to broad consumer segments. One approach that helped make these things possible was the flexibility of its pricing plans: single-ride passes, full-day passes, and annual memberships. Customers who purchase single-ride or full-day passes are referred to as casual riders. Customers who purchase annual memberships are Cyclistic members.

Cyclistic’s finance analysts have concluded that annual members are much more profitable than casual riders. Although the pricing flexibility helps Cyclistic attract more customers, Lily Moreno, Director of Marketing, believes that maximizing the number of annual members will be key to future growth. Rather than creating a marketing campaign that targets all-new customers, Moreno believes there is a solid opportunity to convert casual riders into members. She notes that casual riders are already aware of the Cyclistic program and have chosen Cyclistic for their mobility needs.

Moreno has set a clear goal: Design marketing strategies aimed at converting casual riders into annual members. In order to do that, however, the team needs to better understand how annual members and casual riders differ, why casual riders would buy a membership, and how digital media could affect their marketing tactics. Moreno and her team are interested in analyzing the Cyclistic historical bike trip data to identify trends.

Business Task

This project will answer the following question:

How do casual riders and annual members use Cyclistic bikes differently?

The report will analyze the following aspects of Cyclistic bike usage:

  • What proportion of the total rides come from casual riders?
  • What is the average trip duration for each type of rider?
  • Which days of the week are the most popular for each type of rider?
  • Which times of day are most popular with each type of rider?
  • Which rental stations are most popular with each type of rider?
  • Is the total number of rides trending up or down for each type of rider?
  • Which types of bike are most popular with each type of rider?

Data sources

In order to answer the business question, this report uses Cyclistic’s historical trip data.1 This dataset contains the following information:

  • Ride ID
  • Type of bike
  • Start and end date and time of the ride
  • Start and end station name, ID and latitude/longitude
  • Rider type (member or casual)

  1. Data is provided under licence from Lyft Bikes and Scooters, LLC↩︎